that happened in your life, and you wonder, am i ready to die? >> he was a hollywood stuntman, but this was no hollywood stunt. >> this is a hit. >> shot four times and left dying on the floor. >> somebody definitely wanted him dead. >> will you be able to solve the mystery of who wanted him dead and why? you'll meet lots of possible suspects -- >> oh, my gosh. >> including his ex-wife. an actress once married to movie mobster joe pesci. >> don't move. >> she had a strong alibi. >> do you know who shot garrett warren? >> i don't know. >> that's only the start of the twists in this hollywood mystery. >> this is one of those stranger-than-fiction kind of things. certainly nobody would write a

consistent like this. >> the most stunning twist was what didn't happen. >> my mom said, don't you [ bleep ] die. that hit me harder than the bullets. my mom never swore. >> i'm lester holt, and this is "dateline." tonight, as they say in hollywood, the plot thickens. here's josh mankiewicz. >> ready, and action. >> ugh! ah! >> action. >> action! action! >> it rank second only to money word in hollywood. and here in l.a. where life and art are often the same thing, there's a real-life drama that rivals any action movie with a plot that includes all the elements of classic film noir. >> cut. >> a mystery featuring an

assassin, a femme fatale, a hollywood star, and a stuntman who takes the fall. and as for the money, we'll get to that. let's start with the biggest name on the marquee, joe pesci, famous for his roles as a cold-blooded killer. >> don't move! >> this drama would co-star pesci's ex-wife, claudia haro, a model and actress who appeared with pesci in the film "casino." >> with the orchestra -- >> the supporting cast includes claudia's brother, manny haro, not an actor but an actually tough guy who did time in prison. and who harbors a terrible secret in his past. and finally, claudia's second husband, garrett warren. a hollywood stuntman and martial arts expert.

a man very familiar with danger. fade in -- early evening in the quiet town of west lake village, california, outside of l.a. stuntman garrett warren heard a knock on his door and a voice on the other side asking about his new silver volvo parked in the driveway. garrett answered, then comes our first plot twist. three shots into his body. one more into garrett's right eye. the daredevil's luck had run out. >> i called, and his mother answered the phone screaming, crying, just distraught, wally, wally, you're not going to believe what happened. what? you know, garrett's been shot. >> wally crowder was a fellow stuntman and garrett's good friend. >> garrett was one of those men that you could count on. you hear in life that you're

lucky if you have five friends or you can count a friend on one hand. garrett was that friend to me. >> wally's been in the business for more than 30 years. >> garrett warren was probably the finest fight man you could ask for. i had hired him on several shows, got to know him, watched his expertise. phenomenal athlete, stuntman. >> you've probably seen garrett warren's work. you just didn't know it. here he is in "charlie's angels" doing a spin with lucy liu. and doubling for jean claude van damme in "double-team" during this explosion. but his friend wally says garrett's personality was not what you might expect. >> garrett was a very focused individual. people think of stuntmen as

daredevils, crazy people. that's the last person i want on my job. i want the very best at what they do. >> toward the end of 1997, wally says that focus shifted the moment he met claudia haro. >> beautiful, beautiful woman. we wanted garrett to be happy. he met somebody that he genuinely loved and wanted to start a life with. >> there was something special about her. people who got to know her -- she has a beautiful soul. i think men were attracted to that as much as to her beauty. >> claudia's good friend julie remembers when claudia and garrett first got together. one day she says, i met this guy? >> yes. and she was very excited. i was always a big fan of garrett's. he was sweet. he was funny. and she seemed so happy with him. you know, i should say actually joe and i both were very supportive. >> by joe she is referring to claudia's ex-husband.

a character actor who became a star by playing mafia tough guys, joe pesci. it sounds like her marriage to joe pesci didn't end badly. >> not at all. not at all. they're like family, you know. they're very, very close. >> claudia stayed close to joe pesci even after she started dating garrett who came from a different part of the movie business. garrett loved action and adventure, but when he met claudia, he was ready to settle down. >> we felt that this would be the gal that garrett would end up with. no more dating, no more running around. i'm going end to up with claudia. >> narrator: garrett and claudia were married less than a year after they met. >> in the beginning, i think it it was a very good relationship. >> oh, my gosh. >> they soon had a beautiful daughter, kyla. >> look at the hairdo. >> the new couple enjoyed being parents. >> i love you guys. >> i love you, too. >> but happy scenes like this

one did not last. claudia and garrett couldn't make it work. >> it was a series of events. it just wasn't the right marriage. >> once the relationship started going south, it went fast. less than two years after their wedding, claudia and garrett split up for good. >> divorce is never easy, but in the long run, it was two parents trying to figure out a way to live and both see their children. >> garrett went back to his old life as a stuntman, back to the set and the world of make believe. how did his life go from playing dead to bleeding out on the floor of his home, shot four times at close range? >> somebody definitely wanted him hurt or dead at that time. >> but who? detective mark gamon of the l.a. sheriff's department said investigators looked at every angle. remembering how the gunman at first asked garrett about his brand-new volvo.

they wondered if this could be road rage. someone garrett had tangled with on the l.a. freeways. mr. warren is a stuntman. >> yes. >> i'm guessing maybe he doesn't always drive the speed limit or use his blinker when it's time to change lanes. >> that could be possible. >> or it could be personal. >> could have been an ex-business partner or if it was somebody he was dating that was jealous, maybe an ex-husband or an ex-boyfriend, there was an array of possibles on who could have done this. >> possibilities that led from a bloody crime scene to the bright lights of the movie business. all the way to the parts of l.a. that the tourists never see. >> so who did want garrett warren dead? there seemed to be an entire cast of suspects. detectives especially wanted to talk to garrett's ex-wife, claudia. when we return, getting ready to say good-bye to a friend. >> i'm going to lose my friend. he's not going to make it. >> and you should get ready to

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hospital daytime. wally crowder rushed to the bed side of his buddy, garrett warren, a stuntman who had been shot with real bullets. >> i ran into garrett's mom and realized i'm going to lose my friend. he's not going to make it. >> garrett was in critical condition. >> all these things run through your head. the time you spent together. the things that maybe you should have said that you didn't. it was rough. >> shot three times in the body and once through the eye. all at close range. hard to imagine anyone surviving

it. ready for our second twist? it's one that neither garrett's family nor the gunman saw something. this is garrett warren today. >> thank god i'm still here. i mean, i was very fortunate. i was very lucky, very blessed. >> to the surprise of the doctors treating him, garrett warren pulled through, and he lived to tell the story of the night he was almost murdered. 6 a flashback as vivid now as it was then. here's bullet one. >> to be honest with you, when a bullet hits you, you don't really know that it hits you. it's not like you see in the movies. and as i slipped to the side and it hit me center mass, it went right in front of my chest, passed by my heart. it is now stuck in my rib cage here. it is still there. >> then bullet two. >> so i looked down, looked back up. here came another one. i slipped my head to the side.

when that happened, the bullet hit me in the neck and went straight up my back. >> bullet number three. >> then i realized, okay, this is for real. i went to close the door, and he shot center mass at me. when he did, i was turned sideways, and he hit me here in the hip, and it went straight out my back and past my hip. that one hurt. that one hit my bone. >> if that sounds gruesome, then hang on for what's next. >> i fell back behind my door to the ground. and then he walked in and put the gun to my head. when the gun of placed to my head, the first thing i did when i saw him squeeze the trigger, i flinched like a fighter did. as i did this, the bullet went through my eye, straight through my eye, went through my ear and got stuck in the wall behind my head. >> those are pretty good reflexes. >> but if it was "the matrix," it wasn't good. it was keanu and the bullet hitting him. as much as i moved i got hit. >> somehow the bullet that went through garrett's head missed his brain. >> you know when they tell you your life passes before your

eyes? it doesn't pass before your eyes. you run through. you think about everything that happened in your life and you wonder did i do anything wrong and did i not make up for it. am i ready to die. >> at the time of the shooting, garrett's mother was at his home helping with baby kyle a. garrett's mother ran to see what was happening, and the gunman took two shots at her but missed. and then out of bullets, he fled. >> i looked at her and said, you know, i love you, mom. i'll see you on the other side. my mom said to me, don't you -- die. i was shocked. that hit me harder than the bullets. my mom never swore. here she was, she shook me and said, "don't you -- die. you've been a fighter all your life. fight one more time for me." i looked at her and said, "all right, you got it. i'm not going to go. i'll stay." >> as garrett ran through his life, he looked back on his

failed marriage to claudia haro. >> it was true love. it was the things that poetry was written it, you know. the thing that movies are made of. >> hi, daddy. what's up? >> that brief marriage produced their daughter kyla, and even though the marriage didn't last, the bond both parents felt with kyla surely did. >> my daughter's being born was amazing. it was the most amazing part of my life. and probably one of the greatest things that i can leave as my legacy, i guess. >> but when the marriage broke up, there was a nasty fight over who would get custody of kyla. in the midst of it, claudia made perhaps the worst accusation you can make. she claimed garrett had sexually molested their daughter. after a thorough investigation, a family court judge ruled that there was no evidence of abuse. but it was shortly after that that the gunman showed up at garrett's home. so naturally, detectives brought in claudia for questioning.

>> it was just another road that we went down. you know, during the investigation. you know, hey, could it be an ex? >> claudia was cooperative. she didn't appear to have any ties to the shooting and had a strong alibi for that evening. she even expressed concern for garrett. investigators were satisfied she wasn't involved. so they kept talking to garrett who'd gotten a glimpse of the man who shot him. >> it was very difficult to decipher what his ethnicity was because i was looking through a peep hole in my door. >> not somebody you knew? >> no. never knew him before. >> as garrett recovered from his wounds, the sheriff's department tried to piece together some theories. i'm guessing detectives asked garrett if he was carrying on with somebody else's wife or girlfriend. >> yes, everything was being looked at in his life, in his lifestyle, of his business. >> an exciting high-energy lifestyle from the gym he owned to the film circles he ran in. garrett warren had no shortage of adventures.

but investigators received a tip suggesting that garrett also had enemies. >> the sheriff's station received an anonymous letter advising that there was some people involved at the gym that garrett was having some kind of relationship with. people that might be of interest to detectives, that they might want to question these people. >> detectives checked out every name that came up. they followed up on every lead. but they hit a dead end at every turn. depressing? >> very depressing. sometimes you just need that one break. you need a phone call that somebody wants to really give up some information. give us another road to go down, give us another adventure to try. >> it took almost two years before that break arrived. that's when police in another county searching a car for drugs instead found a note and a photo that would make clear just what kind of danger garrett warren was facing.

coming up -- was garrett warren's would-be killer about to try for take two? >> i'm scared to death someone's going to come back and finish. [ male announcer ] applebee's 2 for $20 menu.

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closeup -- garrett warren. the stuntman was gunned down in his own home but lived to tell the tale. he knew his would-be killer was still on the loose. and garrett was looking over his shoulder. >> i have a bulletproof vest on. i've invested in -- whatever money i possibly can into all sorts of security around my house. i'm scared to death someone's going to come back and finish it. >> did you think there was ever going to be an arrest? >> no. i actually gave up and thought, eh, you know what, chalk it up to experience and move on" w your li -- move on with your life and that's it. >> and but move on. >> i did. >> a year after his shooting, garrett still faced multiple surgeries and painful rehab. he was back at work as a personal trainer at the gym he owned. and that's where he met lisa. >> she was also a client that i was a personal trainer to.

so while we were first training, she said, you know, i really like you, i would like to date you. i said, i have a rule. i don't date clients. >> so issa quit the gym. >> she came back and said, i'm not in your gym, i'm not your client. let's date. >> they married in december of 2002, two years after the shooting. maybe the happy not brought along by garrett's second wife made it easier to get along with his first, claudia. the anger that had marked their divorce had faded. >> went back to our visitation schedule again. back to shared custody. and we're on speaking terms, and we're actually friendly. >> it was about 18 months after garrett was shot when detectives got that lucky break. in an unrelated case, san bernardino police served a search warrant on a car belonging to a man named miguel kiros. they were looking for drugs but found something else under the spare tire in the trunk.

it was a photograph of garrett warren with a circle drawn on it and garrett's home address which very few people knew. so detective showed garrett a six pack, a photo lineup that included a photo of miguel kiros. >> i'm looking and say, by all mean, that's the guy i recognize. >> that's the guy that shot you. >> yep. >> no doubt in your mind? >> no doubt in my mind. >> in 2003, detectives arrested miguel kiros for attempted murder. he was neither a gang banger nor a hired gun. instead, he owned a pizza parlor. sheriff's detective mark gamon. >> did it seem like he was your middle class, very nice guy that everybody in the community clofed. >> -- loved. >> yesterday garrett identified him as the shooter. >> yes. >> other than that, there was nothing to suggest they'd ever met. they done a business deal before?

>> no. >> kiros connected in any way to the gym? >> no. >> any chance that he was driving a car near garrett that night? >> no. none whatsoever. >> what their connection was or why he would kill him, not clear. >> there was no direct connection whatsoever. >> and as detectives soon learned, proving an attempted murder charge against miguel kiros wouldn't be easy. multiple witnesses said they saw and spoke to kiros at his pizza parlor on the night of the shooting. >> these witnesses weren't really beholden to mr. kiros in any way. they weren't members of the family. they were just customers. >> yes, they were. they were frequent customers of that establishment. plus, he had receipts -- you know, he hand writes on them. it was pretty good alibis. >> and so at kiros' preliminary

hearings, evidence opponepointe ways. he was seen 80 miles from the scene of the crime the night it happened. then why did kiros have the picture hidden in his car? how and why would garrett finger kiros as the shooter? deputy direction attorney hugh chun was brought in from the major crimes unit and knew he had more work to do. you got a guy stopped for drug charges -- >> right. >> he's got a map hidden in his car of somebody who was nearly a murder victim. >> sure. >> and a photograph of that guy. >> right. >> and the guy picks him out. >> right. so you think what's the question, right? >> aren't there people on death row for less than that? >> sometimes there's more to a story than meets the eye. which is the case here. >> when we come back, investigators discover a picture of garrett warren and the man he accused of shooting him. >> this is one of those strange stranger-than-fiction things. certainly nobody would write a script like this.

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fade in -- los angeles county, california. garrett warren was gunned down, shot four times in his own home, but somehow survived. it fit his character really. a hollywood stuntman, martial artist and former fighter. not only did he survive, but he was able to identify his shooter. a man who'd been caught with what looked like a hit note in his car. they tell you his name is miguel kiros. >> yes. >> that name mean anything to you? >> not at the time at all. >> it sounded at first like a strong case. but the more law enforcement and prosecutor hume chun investigated, the weaker it seemed to become. you've done a lot of work. and mostly you've helped prove your defendant's alibi. >> sure. so far, right? eventually really proved the alibi that he didn't do this. >> remember, multiple witnesses put miguel kiros about 80 miles away from garrett's home on the

night of the shooting. then like a scene from "columbo" came this latest twist, something the prosecutors saw during a court hearing. >> i'm noticing some things. first of all, miguel kiros is left handed. the shooter was described by the witnesses, the victim and his mother, as right handed. that's a little odd. >> odd because what left-handed person would try to commit murder with the gun in his right hand? like out of a movie. >> right. a script writer might do that. in real life this didn't make sense. >> and then prosecutor chun saw this photo taken at a party, a barbecue. >> in this photo, you have garrett warren, and he is facing miguel kiros. and they're kneeling down. their children are in front of them. we can tell from the scar on garrett warren's face underneath the left ear that this is post shooting.

we can tell from the ages of the children as well as the lakers championship t-shirt that mr. quiros is wearing the time period. >> before the eyewitness i.d. of quiroz. you think this is where he knows him from? that's why he identified hip as the shooter because he remembered him from the party? >> right. classic transference. >> to both the prosecutor and to garrett, the photo explained the i.d. >> for some reason when i saw him in the photo lineup, it clicked. i said that must be him. i recognize him. and obviously it wasn't him. >> so garrett was wrong in picking quiroz as the man who shot him. and that left prosecutors with two questions -- what who did shoot garrett, and since he had garrett's photo and address in his trunk, could quiroz still somehow be involved?

the prosecutor began to rethink the case. >> the defense attorneys agreed that we could talk to mr. quiroz. and they let us talk to him. and the detectives and i keep coming back to this hit note, to where it's found. he doesn't know garrett warren. remember, their interaction was very brief at that barbecue. >> detectives kept after quiroz. they knew that whoever ordered the hit really wanted garrett warren dead. because here's one more twist -- the postmark on the note is from after the shooting. meaning that it's not so much a hit note as a note explaining to someone how to go back and finish the job. >> it's a rehit, if you want to call it that. >> that "finish the job" note says chun, started to unravel the mystery. >> that was really kind of what broke the case open. that was quite frankly the lifeline we had on this case. >> the one unavoidable piece of evidence that finally cracked miguel quiroz.

>> we go back round and round about this, and finally he admits that he was one of the middlemen. >> miguel quiroz admitted that while he wasn't the shooter, he was in on the plot and that he was caught by his own carelessness. >> he explained that that hit note had been sent directly to him. that he had put it under the spare tire in the trunk of his car and literally, he said, he had forgotten about it. >> so the reason you ended unfinding that hit note under -- ended up finding that hit note under the spare tire in the trunk is he put it there for safekeeping and forgot it? >> this is one of those stranger-than-fiction things. any producer or director in a movie would say come on, that's ridiculous. but people forget things. >> disorganized crime. >> yeah. >> luckily for prosecutors, miguel quiroz had not sworn a

blood oath to never rat on his friends. quite the opposite. he rolled over like lassie and cut a deal. he agreed to wear a wire and help collect evidence on his co-conspirators. and so as they say around here, the plot thickened. coming up -- the world's worst hitman. >> i apologize, dude. i'm not a good shot. >> and coming up next friday on "dateline." >> i got a call from the police department asking if i knew where my friend was. >> she walked out on a freezing, cold night and never came home. >> you could see the body underneath the snow. >> this mother of three dead. her husband the prime suspect. >> my attorney said, you don't know the tidal wave that's coming toward you, do you? >> turned out his wife had a secret. she was in love with another man. >> she really did call it a true love moment. >> was her husband a killer, or was he a victim himself? >> their position was dale's the easy guy.

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tiny needle, big protection. a police informant wears a wire as he talks to a partner in crime. >> i don't got to worry about you, and i know you ain't got to worry about me. >> yeah. you know, i'm not like that. >> the informant, miguel quiroz. he's the pizza parlor owner-turned-small time drug dealer and the man found with a hit note in his car targeting garrett warren.

now he was cooperating with investigators. detectives already knew quiroz wasn't the shooter. quiroz told them the man who actually pulled the trigger was an old friend of his named jorge hernandez, heard here. >> you don't say nothing, i don't say nothing. >> as part of his deal with prosecutors, quiroz wore a body wire and approached hernandez at a party. quiroz said he hired hernandez for $10,000 to kill garrett warren. on the tape, hernandez makes clear that he didn't waste any of that money on transportation. >> i used my own car. >> hernandez can be heard saying that he's sorry he didn't manage to kill garrett warren. >> i apologize, dude. i'm not a good shot. >> and hernandez made clear he was ready to try again. >> just get it and whatever, and we'll finish it off if that's what you need. >> speaking to prosecutor chun, quiroz explained his own involvement.

that he'd been paid to hire hernandez as a hitman. and he explained where the trail led. mr. quiroz told you that he didn't do it, but that he was in on the planning. >> right. >> and that he did it at the behest of his friend, manuel haro. >> correct. >> his long-time friend. they worked together in the pizza business and in the drug business. and if the last name haro sounds familiar, it should. manny's sister, claudia, is garrett warren's ex-wife. prosecutor chun says that explains mr. haro's involvement. >> and haro was doing it for his sister, claudia. >> who was married to garrett -- >> who was once married to garrett but was at the time going through a contentious divorce. on a scale of one to ten, this was an 11. this was about custody of the daughter. exactly. and she had a lot of antipathy that was expressed toward garrett warren. >> she said you were going

bleed, right? >> yep. >> generally when one spouse says to the other you're going to bleed, it's a sign there are bad times to come. >> you're right. >> prosecutors believed they were beginning to understand the outlines of the plot to kill garrett warren. infuriated by a bitter custody battle, they believed claudia haro set it all in motion. proving that wouldn't be easy. investigators began by looking at how claudia might have persuaded her brother to get involved in a murder. detectives arrested jorge hernandez and manny haro and charged them with attempted murder and conspiracy. when they questioned manny, they learned about a secret of his that might explain why manny would want garrett warren dead. >> we didn't really talk about me getting molested until i was at least 22 probably. >> manny told investigator he'd been molested as a child. and remember, manny's sister,

claudia, during her divorce from garrett warren claimed that garrett had molested their daughter. those allegations were thoroughly investigated. a judge said they were unfounded. but now investigators had to consider another plot twist because of something else manny said -- that not only had he been molested but that the only other person in the world who knew about that secret was his sister, claude extra. >> being that i've been through certain thing in my childhood as far as like molestation and my sister -- my sister was the only one that i confided in, told her about, you know, my molestation thing that happened when i was younger. >> had claudia manipulated manny by telling him only part of the story? >> did she ever let you know that the judge, you know, someone independent in her child custody case had found that the allegations that she was making against garrett were false? did she ever tell you that? >> she -- i never asked, and she

never told me. so i think she knew how to hit the nerve that he was molesting her. so i think she knew it was going to hurt that way. i never really talked about it. >> manny said his sister's exact language was that she wanted garrett taken out. >> i'm almost positive she didn't use the word murder or kill. >> uh-huh. >> but it's like me telling you i want you to take him out. you know what that means, that slang means take him out meaning kill. >> manny haro, a small-time criminal, was pointing the finger of guilt straight at his sister. an actress and mother who'd been married to hollywood stardom and who had never had a problem with the law. it was hard to believe, except maybe for the intended victim of the murder plot who believed claudia was behind it from the get-if. -- get-go. >> there was only one person who wanted this done to me.

>> he felt that way even as the investigation pointed in every other direction until finally, five years after the shooting, detectives arrested claudia haro. >> i did think to myself, you know, thank god. you know, finally i don't feel crazy anymore. >> but he was in for another shock. prosecutors did not feel the case was strong enough because manny haro had not agreed to testify against claudia. and the d.a.'s office declined to file charges. i'm thinking you probably hated that. >> yes, business that's not the worst of it. i was proud to tell garrett, guess what, i've arrested claudia haro for hiring a hitman to kill you. >> then you got to call him back and say -- >> you're not going to believe it, but i'm -- i got to let her go. >> 48 hours after detectives arrested claudia, she was back on the street, completely free once again. >> but i guaranteed him that i would not stop. >> what would it take to write a

new ending to this story? with a new role for the beauty that investigators believed was their femme fatale? or would claudia haro escape prosecution simply because denying she'd been involved? >> the bottom line principle is this -- lying isn't just about saying the words and mouthing the words. the words have to make sense. when they don't make sense, you're going to have a problem. >> lying's tougher than people think it is. >> it's a lot tougher than people think it is. >> when we come back, claudia haro tells her story. >> you're day in the limelight. >> okay. go ahead. every picture tells a story. of course, some stories are bigger than others. okay guys, here we go. everybody say, 'cheeeeeeeee-eeeeeese'.

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her. but prosecutor hume chun did not file charges, and claudia was turned loose. chun felt he needed stronger evidence. >> i did not think there was a fileable case at that point. >> but claudia's brother manny changed that. he took a plea deal from prosecutors and finally agreed to testify against his sister. >> at some point, does somebody approach you about doing something, killing somebody? >> yes. >> okay -- >> my sister claudia approached me -- claudia haro approached me. >> that made the difference. detectives rearrested claudia haro. this time the prosecutor charged her with two count s of attemptd murder and one of conspiracy to commit murder. claudia denied everything. >> do you know who shot garrett warren? >> i don't know. >> do you know why he was shot?

>> no. i don't know. >> while there was evidence enough to charge claudia, was there enough to convict her? you got mr. quiroz's admission. >> right. >> and you got mr. haro and mr. hernandez on tape. >> right. >> but you don't have anything proving that claudia haro set this in motion. >> we have the motive, the contentious divorce proceeding. we have the timing of this because what happens is that the judge finds the child abuse allegations to be false. on april 12, i believe, of 2000. the hit occurs about a month and a week after that, on may 20 of 2000. >> okay. but all of that's circumstantial. >> i agree. i agree. >> but soon there was more. prosecutors said the handwritesing on thandwrites ing -- handwriting on the hit note matched claudia's. and when they compared letters to dpairt with tgarrett, they n misspell of this word, agora,

from the note. in the note and in the letters, the word is misspelled the exact same way. a-u-g-o-r-a. claudia insisted she had never given any notes or maps to miguel quiroz. >> did you ever give him any paperwork? >> no. not that i can think of, no. >> if we had, say, someone's address written in your handwriting -- >> i don't know. in from me. i don't know. >> she claimed to know very little about what her brother, manny haro, might have been up to. >> why would your brother, who'd never even met garrett -- >> right -- >> want to kill him? >> i don't know. that's not -- >> why would he tell us that you're the one that asked him to be killed and helped arrange it? >> i don't know. >> did you ever give your brother a large amount of money? >> no. >> any amount whatsoever?

>> i don't think i ever had a large amount of money. >> as we said, every hollywood story eventually comes back to money. if claudia haro paid somebody $10,000 to ice garrett warren, where did she get the cash? detectives took a good look at her other ex-husband. tough guy actor, joe pesci. remember that party snapshot of garrett and middleman miguel quiroz along with their kids? that was taken at the hollywood hills home of joe pesci. >> he actually interviewed joe pesci. and we just wanted to ask if he gave her a large sum of money at that time. he denied that he ever gave her a large amount of money. there was no evidence to indicated that he had any involvement. >> claudia haro said she wanted to do an interview with us, but we were not able to speak with her in jail. we spoke with her defense attorney, tom messero. both known for successfully defending michael jackson. the picture that's drawn of her

is sort of thisven vengeful wom who would stop at nothing to keep her daughter away from her ex-husband. >> whoever gave you that information doesn't know claudia haro. >> he says if she's guilty of anything, it's of having a career criminal for a brother. >> i believe manny haro was angry about being abused and molested as a child. he was desperate to maintain his street credibility as a drug dealer. and then when he got caught, he tried to blame it on his sister to try and gain freedom for himself. >> not only that, she'd, but those hit notes allegedly written by claudia -- >> i am convinced these are forgeri forgeries. claudia never wrote any hit note. nobody talked to her about whacking someone or shooting someone. >> messero of ready with those arguments and more. and who knows what a jury might have done. remember the movie "my cousin vinny," where joe pesci played a lawyer who got his client acquitted of murder charges? >> the state would like to

dismiss all charges. >> yes! >> this movie didn't end that way. on the eve of trial, claudia haro decided not to fight the charges. she pleaded no contest to two counts of attempted murder. she received a sentence of 12 years and four months. she's unlikely to serve all of it. claudia's friend, julie. the deal she was offered, she'll be out in eight years, and she gets to see her daughter grow up. >> and that's why she took it. >> and at her sentencing, joe pesci showed up to support his ex-wife. as for the others, miguel quiroz and manny haro took plea deals. quiroz got a three-year suspended sentence in return for his cooperation. haro was sentenced to life in prison but will be eligible for parole. the hired gunman, jorge hernandez, was tried and convicted on charge of attempted murder and conspiracy. he's serving a sentence of 77

years to life. it's not uncommon in film noir to have the femme fatale get away with the crime. and if claudia haro did mastermind this attempted murder, she ended up getting a very good deal. claudia's brother manny who set it up and the actual shooter both pretty much got maxed out on their sentences. claudia, supposedly the ringleader, going to be out in just a few years. you okay with that? >> yes. you know, the amount of time you spend behind bars is nothing to, you know, what i believe will be eternity afterwards, you know. and i believe that, you know, we all pay one day no matter what. >> you seem remarkably free of anger. >> i am. and everyone should be in this world. you know, she made a mistake. i've made mistakes. no one's perfect. >> surprised? you shouldn't be.

that trifecta of love, money, and murder isn't new to hollywood. neither are stories about beautiful women who turn out to be as tough as a five dollar steak. and the men who somehow find it in themselves to forgive them. 32 dinero i'm lester holt. for all of us at nbc news, good